Happy New Year All! This year I really want to work on craft projects that add to my personal enjoyment rather than create to sell products in my shop. I feel like that approach will release some latent creative juices. With that in mind, here is a brief overview of my process customizing 17 inch Monster High Frankie Stein into Scarah Screams. I am not an expert in this area. I watch alot of YouTube videos and read alot of articles but if you have any questions for me then please leave a comment or Contact me!
The thought of doing "face-ups" terrifies me but I felt like this custom would be a manageable challenge. If you think about, all you have to do to transform Frankie into Scarah is to change her hair and remove her pupils/irises, stitches, and neck bolts. Sounds super easy, right? Well it kinda was...
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Supplies List:
STEP-BY-STEP
- Remove stitches and pupils/irises with acetone. Leave as much of the eye makeup and sclera intact as possible unless you want to change the makeup. I also removed her lipstick because I felt comfortable repainting the lips. This step was relatively easy, however, my doll had patches of sticky residue from the stitches that I was never able to resolve.
- Remove the neck bolts. I used wire cutters then filed down the nub with a nail file.
- Cut off as much hair as possible with scissors. Soak the head in a hot water bath in order to make it pliable enough to remove easily. I used boiling hot water even though most videos I've seen say that you don't need to use water that hot. Popping the head off was a challenge. I used a flathead screwdriver to help pry it off and f.y.i. the neck can withstand ALOT of pressure because it took me more than a few tries.
- Use that same flathead screwdriver (your best friend) and scrape the glue from the scalp from the inside. I was able to get 98% of the hair stubble off this way but some strands were too stubborn. For the remaining strands, I just used a pair of normal tweezers and picked them out.
- At this point, the only thing left to do is cleanup the face paint. I, however, am an overachiever and wanted to try flocking her head so that she would have a fresh appearance even without a wig. This was my first attempt at flocking (which I also saw on a YouTube video) and I rather quite enjoyed it and the result. I used Mod Podge and black Flocking Powder.
- Repaint the eyes and other missing details. The brand Apple Barrel is good quality and reasonably priced. First, I used white paint to fill in the eye. Then I used black paint to perfect the eyeliner over the eye. I also used black paint to repaint the eyebrows. I did not remove the original paint; I simply painted black over what was already there. Lastly, I used a paint in color Pink Blush mixed with a Gloss Varnish to repaint Scarah's lips.
- The rest consists of the fine details. I purchased a black wig online in size 8-9. I spray painted 17" Maddie Hatter's shoes black. I made a headband and made Scarah's dress by modifying my "Burst into Tiers" Halter Dress Sewing Pattern.
Yay!! Now I have a new character to add to my 17" Monster High Doll Collection :-)